The group made their way to the shack. Their steps were more confident than the last time they visited the place, probably because they knew that the monsters weren't around. Even if the Grey Biters manifested somehow and attacked them, they were confident that they could take them out easily, especially now that Hao’s skills were back in business.

Creak!

The door to the shack was slightly ajar so Hao kicked it open. It was musty and dark inside aside from the dim light spilling through cracks between boards. There was a slight stench in the air like that of rotten fish. A few withered strands of the Grey Tissue tendrils were still hanging from the ceiling. To the side was Acadian, the beastly Bastian who had been locked up in the shack for the last couple of days.

"So this is what you guys were keeping in here all this time." Commented Ciara. "That's a pretty nasty thing you caught there. I can see why you want to keep it quarantined from the others."

"No, you got it wrong Ciara." Mentos corrected her, stepping forward while pointing ahead. "That beast isn't the highlight of the day. The creepy thing I mentioned earlier is over there." Mentos directed everyone's attention to a counter present at the back of the shack that hosted a sinister container on top. Within this container was a bizarre existence that looked like a pinkish-grey tissue wrapped around a solid bone structure that was bleeding green slime.

"Oh my god! What is that thing?!" Ciara exclaimed in horror while shrieking backwards in Hao's embrace.

"Tsk, what a baby." Whispered Lanor.

"Don't worry Ciara, it's harmless as long as you don't make any loud noise and free it from its containment. We call it the Grey Tissue because of how it looks." After mitigating Ciara's worry, Hao eased her away gently then began walking over to the object of interest. "Now that I have Vibe Edge, I can probably go deeper into understanding what that thing is."

"All I can tell you is be careful mate and don't cause a shit show like last time," Mentos warned Hao before running over in Acadian direction. "Old chum! How's it been? Did you miss me?"

In response to Mentos's greeting, Acadian growled softly and pretended that he wasn't excited to see Mentos again, but its swaying tail in the background indicated otherwise.

"Hey, hey. You're not going to give me the cold shoulder, are you? Look here, I'm going to share some food with you today. What do you say about that eh?" Saying this, Mentos dipped into his pocket and brought out a packet of raw fish.

Acadian's eyes brightened when he saw the fish in Mentos's hand. He raised his head, sniffed the air and began licking his lips.

"I knew this would cheer you up. I got it fresh from the bay." Mentos was elated to feed his best buddy, stolen from Kiera.

Looking over at them, Ciara said, "So that's what's smelled so funny on our trip here? This whole time he was carrying raw fish in his pants? Wow, talk about being prepared. It's impressive that he went all the way to the sea to catch some for the beast. How adorable, I'm jealous."

'Tsk, she's killing me with her girly attitude,' Lanor thought, rolling her eyes at Ciara's comment. 'It's almost like she's desperate for attention. Ugh! Who does she think she is? Coming here and acting like that. If it weren't for Hao, she would have never been allowed to just casually walk around like that.'

"Hmm?" Tuning into the shifting frequencies surrounding him, Hao was able to sense Lanor's discomfort. She was radiating it quite strongly. He could feel her emotions even through the dense layer of interference from the shack's structure.

He took a moment to contemplate what had made her so upset. Before long he realized that it must have been Ciara's presence that got her nerves rattling like a rattlesnake. Hao concluded to leave the matter at that and focused on what he came to the shack for, the Grey Tissue.

"Alright, time to strip this puppy down."

Getting within breathing distance of the Grey Tissue, Hao reached out and turned the container horizontally. When he did this, the green liquid spread unevenly, moreover, it gave him more room to analyse it.

<Vibe Sense Enhanced>

Vibe Goggles was acting as a conduit to channel Vibe Edge's frequencies. It commenced bouncing electromagnetic waves on and off the Grey Tissue. From his laterals, both ladies watched him, curious about what he was up to. Lanor on his left and Ciara on his right.

"Hmm... now that I can pull apart this thing's cellular matrix, I can confidently say that it is unlike anything I've seen before," Hao spoke slowly but clearly enough. The more he examined it, the more intrigued he became. The Grey Tissue was definitely not a natural occurrence. It was something right out of a Palace Dungeon. And if his analysis was on point then the Tokyo remains was trying to regenerate itself somehow. Hao had never dealt with a Tokyo's anatomy before, let alone a remnant of one, so he had no clue as to how it might react under continuous probing. Hence he decided to examine it carefully.

"Hey, did you find something important? Can you please tell me?" Lanor was dying to know more about this mysterious Grey Tissue.

"I can't explain it." Hao was hesitant to divulge what he knew so far to anyone but himself. He simply wasn't sure what he had before him.

"Maybe I can help." Ciara came forward putting on a pair of black gloves as if she was ready to handle the Grey Tissue. "If I get a sample, I can do a proper analysis at the lab."

"Don't be stupid, you can't be thinking of opening that thing!" Lanor moved swiftly to block Ciara's advance towards the Grey Tissue.

"What? Why can't I? I'm a Blade Engineer too. I'm capable of handling it, I promise you."

Lanor crossed her arms and stood her ground. "No, no absolutely not. This container will not be opening on these grounds. If you want to open it so badly then take it you far-far away from here." Lanor behaved like a mom who didn't want her children to play with knives.

"Ugh! Fine, I'll just ask Vee for permission. Is that okay with you?" Ciara stared dead centre into Lanor's eyes.

"Yes, that'll be fine." Lanor lowered her hands and glanced at Hao.

He didn't want to get involved in their argument. He was more interested in what the Grey Tissue was capable of than in them arguing. He discovered that his Vibe Sense was giving him bad reading due to the glass interference. "This container is bothersome. Maybe I will have to go with Ciara's take and pop this thing open after all."

"Are you serious? You too?" Lanor's head became swollen with disbelief as she stare daggers at Hao.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm just thinking of what's best for me to understand this. I don't want to leave this thing unattended either but if we keep it sealed up forever then we might miss the opportunity to gain some information that may be useful later on. So what's the problem with that? Are you telling me that you're that scared of this immobile thing?"

"I'm not scared. Just cautious." Lanor tried to act tough but failed miserably.

Hao sensed how she was acting. 'Hmm... perhaps she has a traumatic experience with the Grey Biters. This would explain why she was so hostile towards Ciara when she offered to take a sample of it.'

"You seemed very frightened to me. Do you mind explaining why?" Ciara pressed on.

"No, I don't. I'm just saying that this is not a good idea. We should be more cautious about handling it. It's not like we know anything about it, yet." Lanor wanted to end the argument right there before things got ugly.

"That's exactly my point. We should study it more and learn more about it. Then we can make more informed decisions based on that knowledge." Hao added to the conversation.

"Hey, what's all this raucous about?" Mentos sauntered over when he heard the ongoing argument between Hao, Lanor and Ciara that was kicking up the bass in the shack. Being close to reaching them, a sudden earthquake shook the place and rattled everyone.